Day 17
Today is Sunday and a bit of a rest day for us. We got down to breakfast around 8, interested to see what would be provided. It actually turned out to be ok...juice, watermelon, samosas, chapati, roast bananas and mandazi plus tea and coffee.
Robert had said he would pick us up about 10 and we could explore a few places in Chato. It was hot and sunny so we decided to walk down to the lake and wait for him there. As it was he didn’t turn up until around 11 but it didn’t matter as we spent an enjoyable hour doing some bird watching. I don’t have my Birds of East Africa book with me on this bit of the trip so identifying most of these will have to wait until we are back in Mwanza, although we’ve had a few guesses.
Winding Cisticola
Once Robert had picked us up we went and got Msale who was going to be our “guide”. Msale runs a car wash and while we waited for him to finish some business I took a few photos showing life on a Sunday morning in Chato.
During the morning Msale took us to a variety of places, that as a resident of Chato, he was clearly proud of.
The first was a new hotel and wildlife park on the outskirts of Chato. The place had only just opened and there was obviously still some work to be done. However it does seem like they are trying to attract more visitors to the area.
After this we drove past the new airport that has been named Geita Airport although whilst in Geita Region it is nowhere near Geita Town.
Msale then took us to see the Cotton Processing Plant. It isn’t in use at the moment, apart for storing some bags of cotton, as the cotton crop is seasonal but between April and November over 100 people are employed here.
After this he showed us the new Chato Referral Hospital which will open in March and will employ 2000 people.This will be one of only a handful of Referral Hospitals in the country.
By now it was lunchtime and Msale took us to his home to meet his family. He has 3 sons, 2 of which were at home today. His youngest son is 8 and in Standard 3, his oldest son, Victor, has just finished his Form 4 exams, the results for which came out yesterday. Victor has done well enough to go on to Form 5 and 6 (equivalent of our Year 12/13). However nationally this year only 36% of pupils achieved the pass marks that allow them to do this. Robert was also happy, as Peter, his son has also done really well and so will continue his education in Form 5/6.
Msale’s wife had cooked us a lovely lunch which we really enjoyed. However after lunch we had to leave as we had arranged to do several Zoom calls this afternoon with various family members.
When we returned to our room we found our room attendant Happiness, had left a surprise for us.
Late afternoon we walked down to the lake for a drink in the sunshine and then ordered some food from the restaurant to be delivered to our room. Luckily it only took about an hour to arrive this evening and was very tasty.
Day 18
Robert picked us up about 8.15 and we drove out to the Chato District Offices where we met up with Hamisi and Msale. Msale is the Head of the Teacher’s Union in Chato and so would be accompanying us today. Inside the offices we were introduced to the Education Officer for Arts who would also be with us today.
We all then drove out to Katemwa A Primary School. Msale had his car and we followed in Robert’s. There was not much other traffic on the road.
I took a few photos on the half hour journey.
When we arrived at the school we were met by the Head Teacher, Emmanual the ICT teacher, the Village Chairman, the Ward Executive Officer, a representative of the Ward Education Officer, the Vice Chair of the School Committee, a few School Board Members and another 4 teachers.
We have supported this school since 2017 and they are probably our most successful school mainly due to the hard work of Emmanual and the vision and support of the Head Teacher. They have over 4500 pupils and 34 teachers. On average there are 150 children in a class. Today we are giving them 5 more computers which will bring the total equipment they have to 14 computers, a laptop, printer and projector.
We had a good discussion with everyone present. At the moment all children from Standard 3 to Standard 7 are taught ICT. They are taught to use the computers in groups of 30-50 children. Having the projector has made this a lot easier. Lessons take place within school hours and after school until 5pm each day. On average each child will get 15 minutes on a computer each week......pretty good given the number of children at the school.
Of the 34 teachers, 30 are competent in using the computers and 4 are learning. The computers are also used by about 300 members of the local community.
As you can imagine all of this means the computer room is in constant use which is great. Infact while we were having our discussion there were pupils in the room using the computers.
The Head Teacher told us that the computers increase pupil attendance and pupil performance. In the most recent National Exams, in Standard 4 only 12 of the 438 pupil failed the exams and in Standard 7 only 12 of the 254 failed.
After our discussion we renewed the Computer Loan Contract and handed over the computers. The Chair of the School Committee then gave us a couple of Masai blankets as a thank you from the whole School.
As we were leaving the Standard 1 children were on a break so the Head Teacher gathered some of them together for a photo along with Emmanual and Hamisi.
We then made the short drive to Rutunguru Primary School.
Here we were met by the Head Teacher, The Deputy Head, Peter the ICT Teacher and some new teachers. We were also accompanied by the Ward and District Education officers who had been with us Katemwa A.
Once again we all sat down to discuss how things had gone over the last year. This school has had some challenges. At present the room where the computers are kept is also used by the nursery class until about 11am each day so ICT lessons can only take place after this. Last year the Head Teacher had said that they hoped to get a new computer room by this year but unfortunately that has not happened.
We have supported this school since 2017 and at present they has 2 laptops, 3 desktop computers, a printer and projector. Today we were going to give them 3 more computers but in the end we only passed over 1 with the agreement that they can have the other 2 when the new room is built, hopefully later this year.
The school has about 1100 children and despite the slightly limited access to the computers, children from Standard 4 to Standard 7 do all get a chance to use them. Their timetabling of ICT lessons is a little less formal than some other schools and is more curriculum driven so the children learn as and when they need to.
We renewed their Computer Loan Contract with the agreement that Hamisi will keep the 2 extra computers in his office in Katoro and will deliver them when the room is ready. Everyone seemed happy with this and the guys from the Government Education Office did say the would help push for some funding for this.
Some of the children then gave us a brief demonstration of their computer skills.
By the time we had finished at the school it was pouring with rain and we had to make a dash for the car.
We drove back to the District Offices as the Chief Education Officer was now free and wanted to meet us. We had an interesting chat with her.
It was now about 2pm and so we headed for a nearby restaurant we know that does a buffet. It’s fairly basic but “fills a hole”!!
After lunch it had stopped raining and Msale wanted to take us up a local hill. We drove up the road until it ended at a small building. This turned out to be the Government Anti-Corruption Offices. Msale talked to the guys who worked there and they agreed to let us go into the offices and onto their balcony from which we got a fantastic view down over Chato and Lake Victoria. It certainly pays to have a local as your “guide”.
Robert then dropped us back at the hotel and where we spent the rest of the day.
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